Section R14-2-1202. Calculation of AUSF Support

A.      The amount of AUSF support to which a provider of basic local exchange telephone service is eligible for a given AUSF support area shall be based upon the difference between the benchmark rates for basic local exchange telephone service provided by the carrier, and the appropriate cost to provide basic local exchange telephone service as determined by the Commission, net of any universal service support from federal sources.

B.       For a small local exchange carrier, the AUSF support area shall include all exchanges served by the local exchange car- rier in Arizona. The appropriate cost of providing basic local exchange telephone service for purposes of determining AUSF support for a small local exchange carrier shall be the embed- ded cost of the incumbent provider. For any request for AUSF support by a small local exchange carrier filed more than three years after the effective date of this Article, the AUSF support area shall be the geographic areas as determined by the Com- mission.

C.      For an intermediate local exchange carrier, the AUSF support area shall be either all exchanges in Arizona served by that carrier, or such other support area as may be approved by the Commission. The appropriate cost of providing basic local exchange telephone service for purposes of determining AUSF support for an intermediate local exchange carrier shall be the embedded cost of the incumbent provider. For any request for AUSF support by an intermediate local exchange carrier filed more than three years after the effective date of this Article, the AUSF support area shall be geographic areas as deter- mined by the Commission, and the appropriate cost of provid- ing basic local exchange telephone service for purposes of determining AUSF support shall be the Total Service Long Run Incremental Cost of the incumbent provider. In the event that the FCC adopts a somewhat different forward-looking costing methodology and/or a different geographic study/sup- port area for the Federal universal service fund program, a local exchange carrier may request a waiver from this rule in order to utilize the same cost study methodology and/or geo- graphic study areas in both jurisdictions.

D.      For a large local exchange carrier, the AUSF support area shall be U.S. census block groups, and the appropriate cost of pro- viding basic local exchange telephone service for purposes of determining AUSF support shall be the Total Service Long

Corporation Commission – Fixed Utilities

Run Incremental Cost. In the event that the FCC adopts a somewhat different forward-looking costing methodology and/or a different geographic study/support area for the Fed- eral universal service fund program, a local exchange carrier may request a waiver from this rule in order to utilize the same cost study methodology and/or geographic study areas in both jurisdictions. Any request for AUSF support by a large local exchange carrier shall include a Total Service Long Run Incre- mental Cost study, or cost study based on FCC adopted meth- odology, of basic local exchange service. The cost study shall be developed and presented in a manner that identifies the cost for the individual support areas for which AUSF funding is being requested.

Historical Note

Adopted effective April 26, 1996, under an exemption as determined by the Arizona Corporation Commission (Supp. 96-2).